I believe it has been confirmed that this card replaces the HDMI daughter card for the Prelude that is no longer going to ship.

I have read there will be an upgrade program of sorts for owners of the Prelude to purchase these cards.

As an owner of the Prelude who bought it for no reason other than to have the HDMI daughter card in May of this year (when it was supposed to ship) I will not be purchasing this card nor any other product from Auzentech in the future.

egg

Well I can tell you as a Prelude owner that bought it for the same reasons as you and who just wrestled for 4 days with a Asus HDAV 1.3 Deluxe card that was supposed to replace the Prelude that:
- the Asus card is, to say the least, still in Beta
- its drivers are subpar
- it doesn't support 24fps and it is a hardware problem!!!
- it seems to be unable to conect to my AVR at 192Khz
- it needs a specific *beta* version of TMT to be able to play the new sound formats from HDMI. This version crashes.

So, as disapointed as I can be of Auzentech's daughter card trick, I think I might give it a try with the HD. After all, unlike Asus, Auzentech is dedicated to Audio cards.

Well I can tell you as a Prelude owner that bought it for the same reasons as you and who just wrestled for 4 days with a Asus HDAV 1.3 Deluxe card that was supposed to replace the Prelude that:
- the Asus card is, to say the least, still in Beta
- its drivers are subpar
- it doesn't support 24fps and it is a hardware problem!!!
- it seems to be unable to conect to my AVR at 192Khz
- it needs a specific *beta* version of TMT to be able to play the new sound formats from HDMI. This version crashes.

So, as disapointed as I can be of Auzentech's daughter card trick, I think I might give it a try with the HD. After all, unlike Asus, Auzentech is dedicated to Audio cards.

ASUS will be releasing a digital only half-height card. That helps my friend.
Is the Auzentech half-height?

I am not likely to pay $200 for a sound card with analog when the point is to bit-stream.

I expect announcements at CES, perhaps the best solution is a motherboard or video card that can do protected path.

Well I can tell you as a Prelude owner that bought it for the same reasons as you and who just wrestled for 4 days with a Asus HDAV 1.3 Deluxe card that was supposed to replace the Prelude that:
- the Asus card is, to say the least, still in Beta
- its drivers are subpar
- it doesn't support 24fps and it is a hardware problem!!!
- it seems to be unable to conect to my AVR at 192Khz
- it needs a specific *beta* version of TMT to be able to play the new sound formats from HDMI. This version crashes.

So, as disapointed as I can be of Auzentech's daughter card trick, I think I might give it a try with the HD. After all, unlike Asus, Auzentech is dedicated to Audio cards.

Please don't go around spreading lies about the Asus card. Just because you are having issues with your specific setup does not mean the problems exist with all owners of the card. You are correct it is not supporting 24fps, but that is about all. I have no issue with any of the other statements you made.
- 192Khs is working fine for me
- specific version of TMT for the new sound formats has had zero problems so far (reportedly the Asus and Arcsoft versions are merging at some point)
- obviously all the HD formats are being bitstreamed as specified

Sorry you are having problems with your setup, or perhaps your specific card needs to be replaced.

ASUS will be releasing a digital only half-height card. That helps my friend.
Is the Auzentech half-height?

I am not likely to pay $200 for a sound card with analog when the point is to bit-stream.

I expect announcements at CES, perhaps the best solution is a motherboard or video card that can do protected path.

- Rich

To many, the point is Full resolution audio for the newer media. Bitstream,LPCM is only relavent for those with external HDMI receviers. For those without them, analog is the point and give them all the audio goodness without the external receiver.

To many, the point is Full resolution audio for the newer media. Bitstream,LPCM is only relavent for those with external HDMI receviers. For those without them, analog is the point and give them all the audio goodness without the external receiver.

That is what the ASUS HDAV 1.3 DELUXE is for. It has analog outputs that provide upto 7.1 192 Khz undownsampled audio. It is currently available(I have it) and works perfectly in XP and Vista.

How long till we see a solution from Auzentech now? 1 month or will it be longer?

To many, the point is Full resolution audio for the newer media. Bitstream,LPCM is only relavent for those with external HDMI receviers. For those without them, analog is the point and give them all the audio goodness without the external receiver.

He's saying the sound card will (may) have the support of outputting non-downsampled (lossless) sound via analog channels. So there is a point for people that don't have receivers that decode the new high def codecs.

CES is over and still no news from Auzentech?
That's bad news.
BTW, about the Asus HDAV, maybe I had issues with 192khz input, and also I have found out that the problem with TMT was in fact with the powerlib.dll file, but about the 24fps I was right and there is a hardware problem.
That's why I returned the card.
Options are opened now.
Either I get the new Auzentech or the corrected hardware version of the Asus, what comes first.

I think your right. Asus has pretty much worked through most things now (almost) and we haven't heard a thing out of Auzentech. I also only needed the HDMI outs like the new Asus Slim Card will offer but I prefer using PowerDVD for the upconversion of SD disc's. That's one reason I was hoping the Auzentech card would be out and working soon. It's nice to just use one program for all disc's.

I think azurntech should think about chiming in on this thread. I have been holding out for this card for some time. I like the idea of the nvidia internal connector, the 24p output, and the in molested audio stream. Not hearing anything at ces is certainly disheartening.

It's a matter of patience. These products WILL come. I just took delivery last week of the first batch of new HTPC parts for BD playback. I waited till now since all previous hardware just had too many issues. It's tough being on the leading edge and expensive...only two more weeks folks

I agree. Now we have from the 25th to the 31st of January to see if Auzentech HDMI card becomes a reality. I've already spoken to the retail outlet in my area about this card and if they can get in on order, all I got was they are expecting some new products from Creative, Asus and Auzentech sometime in Feb 09, but no mention about the HDMI theatre card?

Don't know what to think, either way I am going to wait for reviews before making a purchase on either card (Asus or Auzentech). Both have a lot of work to do anyway, to make sure these new sound cards are working 100%.